Whitefish Can't Jump: And Other Tales of Gamefish on the Fly [Hardcover]

E. Donnall, Jr. Thomas (Author), John Barsness (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1994

In these 19 lyrical stories, Don Thomas takes you to many places: Christmas Island in search of bonefish; an Alaskan river where boating a huge rainbow becomes momentarily more important than avoiding a mid-stream collision with a nine-foot grizzly; a far northern pond and an encounter with the Ultimate Northern Pike; Belize and the quixotic quest to take a permit on a fly, marred only slightly by a failed marriage and a Blue Crab Special stuck firmly in a philosophical guide's ear; Yellowstone's Lewis Lake for a young daughter's first brown trout on a fly; and Siberia, where Dolly Varden, Kundzha, and vodka combine to thaw the cold war. From each story, we learn a little about fishing and a lot about life.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Having practiced medicine for more than 20 years in Alaska and Montana, E. Donnall Thomas Jr. packs an impressive résumé for a trout bum. But as he points out in one of the essays in this intelligent, good-humored collection, his years of experience can all be reduced to a means to an end: fly-fishing. These days, writing about the sport serves a similar purpose for Thomas, and he demonstrates a thorough understanding of the genre in Whitefish Can't Jump, shifting seamlessly between memoir, travelogue, philosophic musing, and scientific inquiry. Each of the 19 essays centers on a particular species of gamefish, but taxonomy is merely a springboard for the stories and observations that lurk behind the species' Latin names like brown trout under the cutbanks: a hooked rainbow nearly provokes a mid-river contretemps with a swimming grizzly, an impossible northern pike provides an evening distraction en route to a new job, and cutthroats inspire a remembrance of the journey of Lewis and Clark. Whitefish is a welcome addition to fly-fishing literature.

From Booklist

Another tome on the glories of fly-fishing for trout is about as welcome as a treble hook in your ear, but Thomas avoids the clich{‚}es and overwrought prose common in such books. He offers instead the fun of pursuing not only trout, salmon, and char with a fly but also the likes of tarpon, permit, and--fly purists will shudder--largemouth bass and crappie. He's an angler who enjoys taking his shoes off and walking in a pond or stream just to have the mud squish through his toes. If he has a fly rod with him and catches a few fish, so much the better. Of course, he's blessed by Montana and Alaska as his backyard, and he's able to trek down to Belize just to fight a tarpon on a fly. At least he doesn't adopt the snobbish approach to his passion that so many others of his persuasion take. May he continue his writing career, even if that means he has to use worms and a bobber in a speedboat-filled mud hole. Jon Kartman

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Ragged Mountain Press (October 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0070642486
• ISBN-13: 978-0070642485
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,815,949 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars We need more flyfishing books like this!, June 6, 2000

By 

Matthew L. Miller - See all my reviews

This review is from: Whitefish Can't Jump and Other Tales of Gamefish on the Fly (Paperback)

Don Thomas writes as well about wildness and the sporting life as anyone alive today. Although he is probably better known for his bowhunting books, he writes just as well about bird hunting, and, in this case, flyfishing.

This is not just a list of fish taken and patterns used. It is a book about the flyfishing experience, of people and places and, of course, fish. Thomas has a naturalist's eye, and is fascinated by wild creatures and the places they inhabit.

There are too many flowery, sentimental flyfishing books on the market, written by Norman Maclean wannabes. This book is not one of them. Thomas is not a yuppie rhapsodizing about trout. He is a gifted writer who understands wildness and can convey what this wildness means to him.

It is one of the better flyfishing books out there. Anyone who loves the pursuit of fish would love this book.